Winnipeg gains new health research complex

The Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre (WHSC) has started construction on its new Siemens Institute for Advanced Medicine. The $200-million complex is using a public-private funding model that includes a world-class pharmaceutical firm and a 19-storey hotel embedded in the new facility. When fully operational, it is expected to have 300 staff and attract $30 million in R&D funding annually.

The new facility will bundle research and clinical activity to create value from the WHSC research, leading to advances in medical technologies that can be tested at the bedside in the areas of neuroscience, infectious disease, advanced imaging and medical informatics. It is also intended to attract and retain leading scientists to the Centre by offering opportunities to work with cutting-edge medical technologies provided by Siemens.

"There's a convergence between the research setting and the OR (operating room). The types of relationships we're developing here are ahead of the curve," says Harry Schulz, chief innovation officer with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. "Indirect costs are the Achilles heel of the medical research community so we're implementing a diversified model to pay for them."

The Siemens research centre will feature four surgical research theatres where R&D and advanced development work can occur. He hopes to attract other firms to the facility to exploit the unique environment. This could include drug development, virtual surgery techniques using new simulation tools and hardware and software development.

The facility will be paid for from a variety of sources including government support, a fundraising campaign, facility naming rights, high-end equipment (PET scanner, cyclotron) and a contribution from Canad Inn to locate within the complex.

Siemens receives exclusive rights to provide equipment to the complex for 10 years and will also place a research team within the facility. Other firms are expected to conduct R&D at the facility, attracted by the opportunity to work on product development with one of the world's biggest medical equipment providers.

"We're already talking to a half dozen multinationals that want to work here," says Schulz. "It creates larger value."

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